“Heating season 2025: start, tariffs and main challengesUkraine is starting its fourth heating season under wartime conditions, with Rivne Oblast being the first to begin. Heating tariffs remain unchanged, and the country is preparing for possible Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
”, — write: unn.ua
Start of the 2025 heating seasonRivne region is starting the 2025-2026 heating season first in Ukraine. From September 24, heat will appear in educational and medical institutions of Varash and Zabolottia. This decision was made by the executive committee of the Varash City Council.
Today, September 22, at a meeting of the executive committee of the Varash City Council, a decision was made to start the 2025/2026 heating season in the city of Varash and the village of Zabolottia from September 24, 2025
As the mayor emphasized, “first of all, the heat carrier will be supplied to preschool educational institutions, schools, and medical institutions to ensure comfortable conditions for children, students, and patients.”
In Ukraine, the official start date of the heating season is determined by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers: it starts when the average daily air temperature for three consecutive days is +8 degrees or lower.
As a rule, this happens in mid-October (usually from October 15), but local authorities can make decisions earlier or later, depending on weather conditions.
Is Ukraine ready for the heating season?Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine – Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksiy Kuleba stated on August 22 that Ukraine is more than 70% ready for the new heating season.
Preparation began in the spring, immediately after the end of last winter. Over the summer, we carried out repairs, replaced equipment, and formed reserves. Today, the readiness level exceeds 70%. This is an interim result that corresponds to the plan and schedule. Preparation continues, and the task is to complete all necessary measures before the start of the season
The minister noted that there are already 90 thousand tons of coal, 85 thousand tons of liquid fuel, 585 thousand cubic meters of firewood, and 32 thousand tons of pellets for boiler houses. 2.4 million tons of coal have been accumulated in the warehouses of thermal power plants and combined heat and power plants.
According to a study by the consulting company ExPro, natural gas reserves in Ukrainian underground storage facilities (UGS) exceeded last year’s values, reaching 12.055 billion cubic meters.
On the same date in 2024, there were 12.05 billion cubic meters in storage, which is 0.05% or almost 5 million cubic meters less gas.
Since the beginning of the injection season, almost 6.68 billion cubic meters of gas have entered Ukrainian UGS facilities, which is 1.67 times more than in 2024. Thus, more gas was injected into storage facilities during 2025 than was stored in UGS facilities at the end of the heating season.
Heating tariffsDuring the war in Ukraine, a moratorium is in effect on increasing tariffs for heat, hot water, and gas for the population. The Ukrainian authorities, in a letter of intent to the IMF leadership, allow for an additional increase in utility tariffs for the population only after the end of the war.
In Kyiv, the cost of heating for the population has remained unchanged since 2019. As before, the heat tariff is UAH 1654.41/Gcal.
The cost of heating for a specific apartment depends on the temperature outside the window and the presence of meters. The lowest temperatures in Kyiv are observed in January and February.
For comparison, in February 2021, the average monthly temperature in Kyiv was 4.7 degrees below zero. The temperature was lower than in January (2.5 degrees below zero). Accordingly, the cost of heating 1 sq. m in houses equipped with metering devices averaged UAH 35/sq. m, while in January – about UAH 33/sq. m.
Heat consumption by an apartment with a heated area of 56.1 sq. m in February was 1.2208 Gcal, and in January 1.1407 Gcal. Residents of this apartment paid UAH 2019 in February compared to UAH 1887 in January.
What determines the cost of heatingIn Ukraine, most multi-story buildings are equipped with house heat meters. For example, in Kyiv, this is 90% of buildings.
Accruals in them are made according to meter readings. In other words, residents pay for the actual amount of heat consumed by the building.
In multi-story buildings equipped with a house heat meter and apartment meters, customers pay for the consumed heat according to their meter readings.
Residents who have not installed individual metering devices in their apartments pay the difference between the readings of the house meter, the costs for general house needs, and the total readings of all individual meters, distributed proportionally to the heated area of the apartment.
For apartments without meters, a maximum accrual limit is set – a “maximum share” that protects the client from abnormally high accruals.
Threat of Russian strikes”Every heating season, every winter during the war for Ukraine is a serious challenge,” emphasized the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Svitlana Hrynchuk in an interview with AFP.
According to the minister, protecting infrastructure from daily Russian attacks is the “biggest challenge” for Ukraine’s energy sector as it enters its fourth winter of war.
“The biggest challenge is the protection and security of energy facilities from daily attacks by hundreds of drones and missiles. We have repaired a lot of our energy equipment after the attacks, but we see that Russia continues to attack,” the minister said.
Ukraine protects its energy facilities with “physical” protection (e.g., gabions), “various technical means of protection against drones and missiles, and, of course, we aim to strengthen our air defense.” “The enemy has changed tactics, and we must also change our defense,” she adds.
Svitlana Hrynchuk also explained that although Ukraine hopes to have at least 13.2 billion cubic meters of gas in its storage facilities to survive the winter, it will need to import more than 4.5 billion cubic meters of additional gas.
Ukraine also plans to “put all its reactors into operation,” meaning nine units that remain in operation since Russia’s occupation of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, which consists of six reactors, all of which have been shut down.
If necessary, the country has an import capacity of 2.1 GW through its high-voltage lines connected to the European grid.
“Our task is not only to resist, we are also building the foundation for a stronger, cleaner, and safer energy future,” the minister stated.